November 10, 2009

A Small Triumph




The new owner sand blasting the sidewalks much to my amusement.




Himself: Kept his smile on, job hunted, and went off to tutor and older guy in job hunting online. Grocery shopping.

Herself: Dealt with Medicare confusions by panicking Sunday. Monday, after swimming, I called, and it was good that I called. I just barely qualified for Part B based on G’s layoff date. How did I know. Forms are in the mail for Part B…two, and one form for the Prescription Drug Plan. I cannot afford a Medigap Plan, but is there someone who sells just the Drug Plan? Reupped our prescriptions, and headed to a meeting where the topic was sexuality and intimacy. OOOoooooo. In stop and go driving up a hill grumpy overheated. Just barely made it home when the “Antibiotics are over” symptoms hit.

Reading: HP 2. I’m smiling.

Balance: Cleaning up old doodles.

Our apartment buildings sell. An ambitious middle aged teacher and his wife bought the place as a fixer upper, and it sure was.

The first thing they did was kick everyone out.

I revolted. I didn’t want to move. I had created something stable for the kids, and I was determined to stay. I settled in to convince the new owners, Bill and wife Constance, that I would be an excellent tenant. I talked, and talked, and talked even more. In the end, they raised the rent, set a bunch of strict rules about any mess outside, but I could stay.

Bill sandblasted the sidewalks. He painted the outside. Inside, he painted the walls, rewired where needed, fixed all the windows, and regrouted the tiles in every unit. He also refinished the hardwood floors in every unit. In our unit, he painted it all white but the kitchen which was painted to match the tiles. He even installed a shelf that ran around the walls about a foot down from the ceiling. The windows opened and shut as did all the doors.

Outside he created gardens where before there was dirt. He planted trees and installed brick paths where before there were tires as fire rings. Lawns in the front, back and sides were green, and plants softened the edges of the lawns.

Lessa continued her wild ride, and her sister continued caretaking her. I kept drinking.

We were living in a decent place at last…despite ourselves.


The far corner of the living room was my studio. I still own many of those things minus the two cleaned drawing boards which I miss.

3 comments:

  1. You're going good! Keep going! :)

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  2. I find the drawings very compelling. I wish I had a graphic book of my life.

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  3. Love the sandblasting. Great image.

    Yes, you can buy separate drug coverage. Glad you got the Medicare thing straightened out. I had a similar problem getting Part B when I stopped working. Eventually it all got straightened out.

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Celebration of Life